Christian Book Publishing Company Eerdmans Doubles on Pro-LGBTQ Stance. ‘We’re Not Confused’
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A week after ‘Christian” book publishing company Eerdman’s openly promoted Pride month in a company blog along with some accompanying LGBTQ-affirming book recommendations to read, receiving a tsunami of backlash in response the company has doubled down on their previous position, insisting that they’re not confused and that their standard practice is to publish books that represent “experimental positions” of theology that serve the church.
By way of context, Eerdmans Publishing Company is a long-time publisher of Christian books. Established in 1911, they’re an independent publisher of religious books, from academic books and scholarly works in theology, biblical studies, and religious history to popular titles in spirituality, ministry, and cultural criticism. Some of the more well-known recent books they’ve published are In Quest of the Historical Adam By William Lane Craig, a commentary on Galatians by N. T Wright, The Gospel According to John by D.A. Carson, Spiritual Depression by Martyn Lloyd-jones, and many, many Bible commentaries.
In an extended Twitter thread they explain:
This weekend, we took down our post because the overwhelming vitriol was alarming, and we wanted to protect our authors. We stand by our EerdWord post, so we have tweeted the link again.But we think we should also offer some explanation. Some of the replies to our original tweet could be summarized as: “With this tweet, you have gone over to the dark side. Your company is now useless and we hope you go bankrupt and your employees become jobless.” For those who thought that cursing and reviling would be an appropriately Christian response to an invitation to try to understand LGBTQ+ Christians, we offer no response.
Their self-revelation speaks for itself, and it grieves us. For our conservative Christian readers and friends who may be disturbed by the slander of the revilers, we want to explain the misunderstandings they voiced.
The revilers say we have changed our position and begun to teach heresy. There are several problems with that accusation. We do not think it is for us as a publisher to define doctrine for the church. We are not the pope, or an ecumenical council, or even a pastor.
Our role is to publish books, representing both settled and experimental positions, that serve the church in its ongoing deliberations. We therefore routinely publish books that contradict each other on many contested doctrinal points. We publish conservative and liberal books; we publish Catholic, Orthodox, and Protestant books.
We are not confused. We are a publisher that serves the ecumenical church. With regard to Christian understandings of LGBTQ+ people, Eerdmans has been publishing books for quite a few years by authors who have come to an affirming conclusion on biblical and theological grounds. This is not new for us. At the same time, Eerdmans has continued and will continue, to publish books by and for people who have not come to this conclusion. Eerdmans does not publish books that deny the existence or ignore the voices of LGBTQ people, propagate false teaching about discredited/harmful “therapies,” or in general condemn/revile LGBTQ people. Too much of that has been done over time, and we want no part in continuing it. We reject the tendency to promote division and discord by categorizing Christians into two camps, considering “us” to be right about everything and “them” to be wrong.
We decline to swear loyalty to one faction’s “us” and join their hostilities against all corresponding “thems.” So, we reiterate our invitation, especially to our conservative friends, whom we value and respect: use #PrideMonth to read a book by LGBTQ+ Christians and their allies.
As always, our aim is not to tell you what to think. It is to provide books that we believe will promote informed and charitable thinking.
While Eerdman pretends to be neutral on these matters by insisting that “we do not think it is for us as a publisher to define doctrine for the church,” their position is untenable, in light of their goal to “serve the church” and “serve the ecumenical church” in their publications.
Would they publish a book that denies the miracles of Jesus, or openly denies his virgin birth? How about that he is a created being? Would they release a book of “experimental theology” that argues Jesus was a homosexual who had relations with the other disciples- a sort of exploratory thought-piece on the cutting edge of Christian belief, done to prick the conscience and stand as a “contested doctrinal points” contra alternate settled theories?
If the answer is yes, then to hell with them. If the answer is no, then they have defined Christian doctrine and made themselves out to be liars, and we know where they go.
We end with this observation:
About Author
‘Eerdmans does not publish books that deny the existence or ignore the voices of LGBTQ people, propagate false teaching about discredited/harmful “therapies,” or in general condemn/revile LGBTQ people. ‘
By that “standard”, they should refuse to publish the Bible. It says all those things, and more – in particular, God’s Word explicitly says they are going to Hell – 1 Cor 6:9-11
… the most egregious and most antichrist being, in the second clause of that sentence, their implication that God cannot save them from their sin, cannot change their heart and mind, and cannot make them a new creature. When that is exactly what God’s Word is about, from cover to cover. They don’t even know what the word “Christian” means.
They are “denying the power thereof” therefore we should “from such turn away.” (2 Tim. 3:1-5) Their sin-supporting, sin-endorsing, sin-worshiping “voices” absolutely should be ignored. And that shouldn’t even need to be said. Anyone who says “sin is good” should absolutely be ignored.
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Spoiler alert: the people who work there are unrepentant sexual perverts.
But slap a “cross” on a product and Ned Flanders churchians suckle it up.
Let Eerdman’s be anathema.